Harry dunning



(No Model.)

PROCESS 0? MA AGTURING TYPES FOR PRINTING AND STAMPING TYPES MADE BY SUCH PROGESS.

No. 495,667. PatentedApr. 18, 1898.

' UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

HARRY DUNNING, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGN OR TO WM. T. BOLTON AND FRANK E. GREENE, OF SAME PLACE.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING TYPES FOR PRINTING AND STAMPING AND TYPES MADE BY SUCH PROCESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 495,667, dated April 18, 1893. Application filed May 25,1891. Serial No. 393,989. (No model.)

To on whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HARRY DUNNING, a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Process of Manufacturing Types for Printing and Stamping and a New Article of Manufacture Consisting of the Types Made Thereby, of which the following is a specification.

The purpose of this invention is to obtain a process whereby a type-letter or typecharacter can be produced, of gelatinous material adapted to receive upon the surface thereof ink, and to transfer such ink, or a part thereof, to a paper, card-board, or other flat or nearly flat surface; to obtain a letter of the character described, which can be attached by glue, mucilage, or the like, to a rigid backing of wood, or other suitable substance; and also to obtain a letter, which, in addition to being adapted to be used for all the purposes for which the ordinary rubber type now in common use is adapted to be used, can also be used for obtaining duplicates without frequent re-inking.

Those skilled in the use of gelatinous material of the character required to produce the letter desired by me are aware of the fact that such material cannot be firmly attached by glue or mucilage to any material or thing, such glue or mucilage, when applied to such gelatinous substance forming, when dry, a thin skin or covering readily peeling therefrom but not adhering thereto; and hence in manufacturing a letter which can be attached by glue to a suitable base, as wood, a process must be adopted which will obtain on the face of the letter, coming in contact with or adjacent to the base, a surface wherein practically none of the gelatinous material of which the letter is composed is present.

I am aware that a multiple transfer pad has been heretofore constructed wherein was used a composition body having a perforate base intersecting the composition body and extending beyond the edges of the composition body, such perforate base thereby furnishing means for the attachment of the same to a base by being turned up against and secured to the edge of such base, as in the device embodying the invention described and illustrated in Patent No. 381,201, granted George H. Arthur, April 17, 1888; but so far as I am aware, no letter, or multiple transfer pad, has been heretofore made having a composition body and adapted to be secured by glue, cement, or the like to a block; as in every multiple transfer pad heretofore constructed, including the one described. in the Arthur patent, the composition body is designed to and does come in contact with the block to which it is attached, or with the material forming the receptacle in which the pad is placed; and such composition body is not adapted to and will not receive, in a manner to adhere thereto, glue, mucilage, or other like substances.

I have illustrated this invention by the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is plan View of a mold employed in producing type-characters by this process.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the mold on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, with type-characters made by this process in the mold, such type-characters not having been removed therefrom. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the mold used-in this process, and Fig. 4. is a perspective of a letter made by this process mounted on a rigid base with a handle, and the one ordinarily e1nployed by me, secured to such base.

The same letter of reference is employed to indicate a part where more than one view thereof is given.

A is a mold.

B is a gelatinous compound forming, in combination with backing C, type made under this process.

D is a metal cover forming part of mold A.

The particular ingredients, or the proportions thereof forming thecompounds of which the gelatinous portionof the type-characters produced by this process are made constitute no part of this invention; any printers ink roller compound and any hectograph pad compound being well adapted to form the gelatinous portion of the type-characters produced, and I do not, therefore, prescribe or limit myself to any particular material or materials or proportions thereof for the ingredients of this gelatinous compound; it being understood that the compound, of whatever materials it is composed, must possess, when the type-character is completed, the characteristic qualities of printers ink-roller compound or hectograph compound in flexibility, jelly-like consistency, and adaptability to receive properly prepared ink when suitably applied thereto, and to impart the whole or a part of such ink to the surface of other and suitable materials when brought in contact therewith. The gelatinous portion of the letters may be obtained by melting togethertwo ounces of glue, sixteen ounces, by weight, of glycerine, and eight ounces of water, putting the water and the glue together allowing them to soak for a while and then heating until the glue is dissolved, then adding the glycerine and continuing the heat until the compound is thoroughly mixed; or such gelatinous portion may consist of glycerine, gelatine and water mixed in about the following proportions:Two ounces of Coopers gelatine, sixteen ounces, by weight, of glycerine, and eight ounces of water; the gelatine to be soaked for some time in the water and then heated to dissolve; then the glycerine to be added and the heat continued for an hour or so, or until the water is evaporated. The mixture should then Weigh about twenty ounces. Or, and illustrating the great difference in proportion of the several ingredients which may be used, take one part of gelatine and soak in two parts of water; after soaking two hours over a slow heat add four parts common glycerine. A few drops of carbolic acid may be added to this, or any other compound used to preserve the resulting mass from spoiling as it is termed.

If preferred the gelatinous compound may be formed of gelatine, rubber, and glycerine, the gelatine, rubber and glycerine compound being formed by first soaking the gelatine in water, then applying heat until melted, then adding the rubber and glycerine and stirring the compound well together while the heat is continuing until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, and the water has disappeared.

The amount of rubber used in the last above named compound is very small, and where glue forms one of theingredients of the compound and constituting the base thereof, the use of rubber is unnecessary, but where gelatine and glycerine are employed it will be found that the addition of a small quantity of rubber, say from one to five per cent, will add largely to the durable qualities of the resulting gelatinous compound.

In producing type by this process the mold A is first obtained by mixing plaster of paris and water in proportions to form, when the plaster of paris has set, asolid mold. This plaster of paris mold is made in the well known manner in which plaster of paris molds are made for producing rubber type, as by flowing plaster of paris mixed with water over an ordinary printers form consisting of one or more letters or characters; and any of the materials, as a mixture of plaster of paris and white lead, ordinarily employed in making molds for the manufacture of rubber type, may be used in place of the plaster of paris and water mixture described. The materials forming the gelatinous compound are melted together by the application of heat thereto, the ordinary manner being by placing a kettle containing the several ingredients into a larger kettle, pouring water into the larger kettle, and applying heat thereto. Where small quantities of the material are to be melted an ordinary glue pot will serve admirably as a device with which the mixture can be heated and melted together. The plaster of paris mold is then placed on a horizontal surface with the face thereof upward, and the liquid composition, in its heated condition, poured evenly over the surface of the mold and into the depressions thereof. After such liquid composition has been thus placed over the mold and while it is yet in a liquid and heated condition, a piece of canvas, cloth or other flexible textile material C is laid smoothly over the upper and exposed surface of the liquid compound, and the metal cover D laid upon the textile material 0. The surface of this coverD in contact with the textile material C is smooth, so that when placed in position thereon, as described, it will press such material evenly down upon and partially into the heated and liquid material thereunder. The backing of textile material D is allowed to remain in position until the gelatinous compound has cooled and set when it can be removed and such gelatinous compound B will be found to be firmly attached and adhering to the canvass O, and it can be readily removed from the mold.

The gelatinous material of which the letter is composed will, while in a heated and liquid condition, if the textile material be laid thereon and pressed downward thereupon without the backing formed by the metal cover D pass upward through the meshes of the textile material (extending over the back thereof), and such textile material will not preserve a smooth surface parallel with the face of the type characters, and hence the metal cover D serves two purposes, to-wit: it allows the liquid gelatinous material to extend upward in the meshes of the textile material but not to pass through it, and prevents such gelatinous material from flowing over the back of such textile material, and it also preserves such textile material in a plane parallel with the plane face of the type characters.

The heat required to melt the material forming the body of the letter is not sufficient to injure the mold A, and hence, many duplicate type may be obtained from a single mold.

The letter thus formed will be found to be much more plastic than the ordinary rubber letter, and to adhere as firmly to a block when cemented thereon by common glue, mucilage or shellac, as will a rubber letter when applied thereto in the same manner such glue ITS coming in contact with the cloth or other textile material constituting the backing of the type form.

The flexible and gelatinous character of the letter secured by this process enables one to print upon comparatively uneven surfaces, and with letters or characters having large area, a result being obtainable not possible with a rubber letter or letter of any other material known to me, while by interposing the layer of textile material between the gelatinous material and the rigid back thereof, such gelatinous material can be securely attached to the block in the ordinary way.

It will be found, if the attempt is made to fasten a letter composed of a gelatinous compound directly to a rigid backing, as a block of wood, by the use of cement, glue, mucilage or other like substance, and without the interposition of a layer of textile material secured to the gelatinous material, that a practical result cannot be attained; and hence, the use of a backing of textile material and a letter having a textile backing obtained in the manner described herein is essential.

While the manner of constructing as herein explained a letter or type form of gelatinous material so that it can be attached by glue to a suitable backing, as of wood is extremely simple, yet the difiiculties resulting from the character of the material employed and its peculiar action when in a heated condition are such that to those skilled in the art it is not apparent, even when the type form is completed, in what manner the same was made. I have therefore, set out with much particularity the several steps constituting such process.

Having thus described my invention,what

I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Pat- 4o ent, is

1. The process of making characters for printing therefrom which consists first in preparing a mold, secondly, of obtaining a liquefied gelatinous mixture by the application of heat to the ingredients thereof, third, of pouring the heated and liquid composition upon the mold, fourth, of laying a piece of textile material upon the upper and exposed surface of the liquid and heated composition, and of laying a cover upon the textileimaterial, such'cover having a flat surface on the side thereof in contact with the textile material, and of removing the type-characters obtained thereby from the mold; substantially as described.

2. As a new article of manufacture a type form consisting of a composition body,fcharacters projecting from the front face of such composition body, the surface of such characters having the form of the design to be reproduced in multiple by the type form, a perforate base of textile material pressed against the back surface of the type form and partially embedded therein and adhering thereto, such textile material extending above the surface of the composition of which the type is composed, and in a plane parallel with the plane the face of the characters are in: whereby such type form is adapted to receive glue and the like substances and be thereby attached to a rigid backing serving as the base thereof; substantially as described.

HARRY DUNNING.

Witnesses:

TESSA G. PARRISH, LUTE S. ALTER. 

